Competitive Lovers
by Percyfan1998
Summary: Ash and Misty are both competitive when it comes to each other. But when competing together as one... A Pokeshipping Valentines Day special.


**Quick story notes:**

Started writing this on 2/3, finished on 2/11. The idea of this FanFic came to me a long while when I got inspired by the image I'm using as the story cover. I was going to wait to write it, but considering Valentine's Day (Single's Self-Awareness Day) was nearing, I thought why not write this for the day? Also just FYI the gym is in the design of the S&M one.

Age:

Ash and Misty – 17

Lana – 16

 _ **Competitive Lovers**_

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up already!" a female's voice angrily shouted, jostling a male awake as he laid stretched out on his futon. They were in her room, he had slept that night in a makeshift bed she had made for him right next to her own bed, which certainly said a bit about their relationship. But right now she really wished she hadn't made those pillows for him so comfortable last night, as it seemed they only achieved in keeping him asleep, the opposite of what he should've been at the moment.

"C'mon!" she yelped, shaking his shoulders some more. She had already tried bringing in Politoed to Water Gun him, but the boy had some amazing endurance and only shivered in his sleep and hugged a pillow even tighter. That had been twenty minutes ago, and now the girl really was losing patience with him. "Grr... ASH KETCHUM WAKE UP RIGHT NOW OR I WILL SERIOUSLY HURT YOU!"

'Ash' woke up with a start from the sudden raise in volume and lunged up forwards, pushing the girl back onto the edge of the bed on her rump. "Uh?! W-what?! Misty?" he asked, looking at the girl with orange-reddish hair. "Is something happening?! Are you okay?! Gyarados issues?! Team Rocket attack!?" Ash continued, panic evident in his tone.

'Misty' sighed before moving forward and calming the teen down. "No, it's not any of those things at all, But," she began, frowning, "Ash, you promised me you'd be up before nine so we can start practicing as soon as possible. But it's 9:15 already!" Misty grumbled, pointing towards her bedroom wall clock.

"Oh," Ash said like it wasn't a big deal, "Sorry about that, Misty, the futon you made was way too comfortable." Misty glared at Ash.

"Get up on your own next time…" she growled dangerously as Ash slightly flinched and scooted away from her. Seeing this, she sighed and her eyes softened.

"It is the first day only I guess, and we did stay up pretty late – so I guess I can forgive you. Just don't make this a regular thing, okay?"

"Okay," Ash muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he looked his bed over. "Hey, where'd Pikachu get off to?"

"Downstairs, eating breakfast with Azurill."

"Ah," Ash said, as he stretched. Misty watched him and smiled at how cute she thought he looked. To her delight, he had grown into quite a good looking male, still had childlike tendencies, but his physical physique and tan pleased her.

"What?" Ash asked when he caught her staring up at him.

"Nothing," Misty answered, not taking her eyes off of him, "I just forgot something…"

"What would that be…?"

"You'll see…" And with that she reached forward and cupped his face with her hands brought him down lower towards her.

She smiled lovingly at him as she pursed her lips and brought them gently in to kiss Ash as her hands moved around his neck. Ash at first was taken aback, but still closed his eyes and softly pushed back, it was nothing passionate, but it still felt nice to push their lips together. Their mouths lightly ajar as Misty slowly pulled back.

"Good morning, Ash," she greeted sardonically, looking as happy as her voice was. "I always like it when we do that," she continued, "Kissing first thing in the morning when we wake up, that is."

"Me too," Ash said quietly.

"Anyways," she said, tone changing. "Hurry up with breakfast, then clean up quickly. Training starts at ten, you hear?!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ash said. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

Misty was about to say yes when her stomach growled loudly. "No," she quietly admitted, blushing as she looked away. She grew crosser still when she saw him chuckle. "Hey! It's not my fault I can't cook! And you're no gourmet chef either…"

Ash laughed. "Ha! Still better than you'll ever be – what would you like to eat, Misty?"

"Fried rice, please," she said bashfully.

"Righto," Ash Ketchum proudly said, as he stood up and went to wash his face and go to the bathroom real quick.

But as he left the bathroom and past Misty still in the bedroom, he got a cheeky idea and poked her shoulder. "Tag! You're it!" he yelped and went running down the winding steps towards Cerulean gyms kitchen.

Misty was livid! "No fair, Ash! Get back here!"

"The dining room table is a safe spot!"

Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower were an interesting pair. A few years ago Misty had finally worked up her nerves to tell him how she felt when Ash came home from Sinnoh, and to her joy Ash accepted her feelings and later took her on their first date, and since then their love for each other climbed at a healthy rate with dates and consistent calls – all accomplished even when he was away in Unova, Kalos, and Alola.

Time had passed since the confession, and the two were extremely close now, unable to not text each other every day whenever they were apart, it often got on the nerves of Ash's friends or Misty's sisters with how long they would talk. But at the moment such a communication problem was inexistent as Ash was staying at Misty's home of the Cerulean gym in anticipation of something the two had wanted to do since he was back from Alola…

"Thanks," Misty said as Ash passed her a plate of his cooking.

"You're welcome," Ash replied as he sat down next to her. The two ate in silence for a bit before a thought crossed Ash's mind. "So, who do you plan on using for the race?"

"Hmm?" Misty mumbled. Ash laughed.

"Y'know you shouldn't talk with your mouth full," Ash snickered. Misty just glared.

"And you," she scowled as she gulped down what she had been chewing, "Have no room to talk."

"Neither do you, Mist."

"Oh please, at least I don't do it as often as you." Ash looked like he was about to retort but chose not to say anything.

"Anyways," Ash said, rolling his eyes, "Back to _my_ question. Who are you planning to use for the race?"

Misty just smiled. "I thought about it for a bit, and she won me it in our first time there. So I'll be using Corsola."

"Makes sense," Ash smiled. "Besides, Alto Mare's streets would be too tight for Gyarados anyways."

Misty hummed in agreement. "Who were you planning on using?"

Ash smirked and winked playfully at her. "Wait and see."

 **O** o **O** o **O**

Both trainers stood by the gyms new arena, equipped with battle fields to fight on either a ground field with rock formations, or on a water field with the same rock formations, but instead acted as a platform. It certainly was an improvement compared to the old gyms water platforms.

Ash pulled out a Pokéball and called his choice for the water race. "Buizel, I choose you!"

"Buoy, buoy!" he called as he appeared in the water.

"Buizel!" Misty said in awe. "Good choice, Ash. Buizel's tail acts like a propeller, it's perfect for the race."

"Thanks," Ash smiled, "I decided on Buizel because of how fast he can get underwater, just like what he showed during the Wallace Cup I took part in."

"I saw, you did great considering you're not a coordinator," Misty complimented, causing Ash to blush a bit. "Corsola! I choose you, sweetheart!" she called, as she tossed her own Pokéball.

"Sola!"

The two trainers soon began to put their Pokémon through their paces. But during practice as the two swam side by side, Ash and Misty started to get antsy with each other.

"Corsola, pick up speed, now."

"Huh? C'mon Buizel, faster…"

"What's wrong? Haven't been training your water types in water often enough…?"

"Buizel has gotten a lot of practice underwater already! Besides, isn't the key to winning about pacing? Corsola's looking pretty tired to me!"

"I am a gym leader in case you've forgotten! I'm an expert at water Pokémon training, and Corsola's just fine. It's Buizel who can't keep up!"

"Oh please, how can he if you're too busy pushing Corsola so hard?!"

"Corsola's just fine! I'm telling you that it's Buizel who's being slow!"

"Stop insulting Buizel!"

"You stop telling me I'm pushing Corsola too hard!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"You so will!"

"No!"

"Yes!" the two shouted angrily at each other, glaring at each other. Buizel and Corsola were oblivious at first to the argument when it started, but soon Corsola had indeed tired herself out, and Buizel was having trouble with the layout of the obstacle course. Both soon picked up their trainer's tension and came up just as the two were starting to force the other to back down.

Meanwhile during all of that, Pikachu and Azurill had been observing the mess of a fight from the stands.

"Pika, Pikachu pika…" _Man, those two…_

"Rill? Azurill azu azurill, azur." _Pikachu? Don't those two love each other?_

"Pika, Pikapi chu Pikachupi. Pi-ika Pika…" _Yeah, Pikapi does love Pikachupi. But really, those two need to get their act together…_

"Buo, buoy! Buoy buoy buoy…?" _Hey, Pikachu! Aren't you going to do something 'bout this?_

"Corsola! La la cors corsola?" _Yeah! You usually get these two to stop, right?_

"Pi-ika, Pikachu. Chu…" _Alright, fine. I'll deal with them…_

Pikachu hopped down and raced over to the couple, charged up, and fired a Thunderbolt at the both of them.

"AAAH!" they screamed unanimously before collapsing onto their backs, their hair a complete mess.

Pikachu finished his electric attack and angrily shouted at the both of them. "Pikapi! Pikachupi! Pika, Pikachu pika! Chu pika pi-ika pika!" _Pikapi! Pikachupi! You two should being working as one! Not against each other! You're worrying the others!_

Ash and Misty looked a shocked mess, before looking down to see Pikachu and then each other.

"Yeah…" Ash admitted, "Pikachu's right, we shouldn't be quarreling like this at all."

"Hmm…" Misty murmured, "You're right. Sorry about that, Ash. Sorry for well… Trying to outdo you back there, it wasn't cool."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too for egging you on in a way."

"Pika…"

They then both looked at their water Pokémon who were currently floating and looking at them with melancholic looks. Both trainers sighed after hearing their Pokémon give off a sad call.

"We're really sorry about that, you two," Misty apologized.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "We got ahead of ourselves real quick back there, didn't we?"

Both Pokémon could agree to that! The rest of the training session was spent in peace, during which time trials were put in. And much to Misty's disappointment, both Ash and she were right about each other's Pokémon's performances.

"I'm sorry, Corsola," Misty said to her Pokémon as she petted her. "Ash was right. I was pushing you too hard back there, wasn't I?"

Corsola, for as much trouble as she didn't want to cause, nodded her head in agreeance to her trainer's boyfriend's speculation. "I'm sorry," Misty continued sadly, she kissed her Pokémon gently on the head. "I promise, I won't let my need to out speed Ash cloud my judgement. I'll put you through your paces a lot more gently next time, okay?"

Ash meanwhile was having similar thoughts. "What's wrong, Buizel? Misty was right, you're not as fast as you could've been. Have you been out of practice for a bit?" Buizel shook his head. "Hungry?" Buizel shrugged. "Or do you just need me to get my act together and help you reach full capacity with training?" Buizel adopted a serious determined look on his face and nodded. "You got yourself a deal!" Ash cheered. "You, I, Misty and Corsola will work next time as a team and win this thing! It's lunch time now, and you two'll need your strength for later. So return for now and have a rest." And with that, Ash recalled Buizel into his Pokéball just as Misty did the same.

"So… Want to eat leftovers?" Ash began.

"Well, I am too tired to go out to eat," Misty replied.

"Last one to the kitchen is a rotten Exeggcute…?"

"Oh, you are so on!" And Misty took off so fast, it was almost a blur.

"Hey! That's not fair!"

 **O** o **O** o **O**

Next day before afternoon practice, Ash and Misty needed to get Pokémon supplements for their Pokémon. If they were to be in top shape they needed their vitamins and other supplements, Brock wasn't around and was busy with his doctorate training, so instead of fresh made Pokémon food, they had to rely on store bought vitamins and minerals – well those too on top of what Professor Oak usually had delivered, but given the needs for the racers it was too little.

But as the two were walking to the Pokemart, Misty couldn't help but feel a burden with how slow Ash was walking, his taller legs making strides hers couldn't. "Hey, Ash?" she asked.

"Yeah Misty?"

"Race you there! Three two one, GO!" And with that she let go of his hand and ran off.

"Hey! Not again!" And he took off after her.

Misty was aware she could lose the race, for as nimble as she was in water, when it came to running she had in recent years slowed down significantly. She turned a corner quickly. "Nearly there," she panted as the sliding doors came into view.

But then a figure wearing black raced past her and she watched as the doors slid open and he entered the building and slowed down. Misty groaned as she slowed her pace down and followed after.

"Not again!" she huffed with a pout.

"What… Can… I say?" Ash said between breaths. "In Alola the temperatures are way hotter, so running back home here in Kanto is a breeze."

"Hmph!" Misty complained. "Still doesn't change that I beat you to the kitchen yesterday."

"You still lost a race to me today."

"I'll beat you going back," she replied confidently, turning her head away in arrogance.

"If you say so…"

That race ended up being a tie. To which Ash's excuse was that he was carrying the heavier bags than she was with her small purse, making the race unfair.

"I still tied with you," she teased.

"Yeah, and you weren't carrying a thing."

"I deserved a win."

"You got one yesterday." Ash was secretly starting to get really irritated by now. What Misty said next surprised him though.

"Yeah…" she started slowly, "But well, my win was just because I had a head start. Truth be told Ash you'll outrun me every time, I couldn't run away from you if I tried." She then got really close and gently brought a palm to his chest before saying, "Not that I'd ever run away from you to begin with. I just like getting you to chase me, it's quite romantic really."

Ash just smiled. "What can I say? I love the competitiveness of it all, and… I love you."

"I love you too."

"Heh… 'Ash and Misty, lovers who'll spend their time showing affection to each other, by trying to outdo one another through competitions of all sorts.' I love it."

Misty laughed hysterically at that. "Yeah, that sounds about right! And honestly I really… wouldn't want a relationship with you any other way. I mean it."

Ash couldn't help but be a bit stunned, Misty _never_ said she liked doing those things out loud; it was more of a quiet agreeance between the two that they never verbally sounded. "You… Like our constant bickering and rivalry…?"

"Yes, I do." Ash couldn't help but smile at that. "And in a way…" Misty continued, "It all makes me love you even _more_. I like it when we're being competitive, Ash, it's so much fun! And… When we're not competing against each other, we work even better when we're competing _alongside_ each other."

Ash took a moment to process it all, and when he thought about it, she was right. He thought back to how hard they both went at it when they competed against one another over Totodile back when they were twelve, and it brought fond memories to him – and if they could take the energy they had against each other and combine it, it looked like they were unstoppable.

"Yeah!" he said, holding a hand out to high five her. "Let's train even harder and win this thing!"

"Woohoo!" she cheered, and high fived him right back.

"But next time…" Ash added. " _I'll_ give an even better motivational speech."

"I look forward to it," Misty replied genuinely.

 **O** o **O** o **O**

Ash and Misty both had smiles on their faces. Their Pokémon seemed even happier, as Politoed was clapping his hands joyously, Caserin was cooing happily. Gliscor had his tongue out in clear approval; even the usually emotionless Litten seemed impressed.

Buizel and Corsola looked very pleased with themselves and each other.

"The hard works paid off," Ash said happily as he watched Buziel flexing in satisfaction.

"It has," Misty beamed back, holding Corsola in her arms. "After all of that hard work over the past few days, how can we not win?"

"Easy. We don't even need to think, we've won already!"

 **O** o **O** o **O**

Ash and Misty came out of the locker rooms at Alto Mare and looked at each other before grinning. "You look good," Ash complimented.

"Thanks, you look good too," Misty smiled back. Ash was wearing simple dark blue swimming trunks with bold lighter blue lines going down the side, along with a black sports shirt, complimented by the couples dark blue registration tags on both of his wrists. His hair sticking out in its usual fashion.

Misty meanwhile to compliment her boyfriend wore dark red swimming underwear, followed by a pale pink sleeveless shirt. Her hair was its usual spikey way with a left side ponytail.

"Let's win this thing, sweet," Ash began determinedly, fists pumped.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Their moment was then made better.

"Hey, Ash! Misty!" another girl's voice cried out. It was Lana, a classmate of Ash's from Alola who had come to visit Kanto with Ash. She had been away, wanting to do some exploring of her own and promised to meet up with them for the race. "It's good to see you two again."

"Yeah, it is for us too," Ash smiled. "How were the Orange Islands?"

"They were amazing," Lana awed. "And by the way, I found Kyogre in the water whilst I was over there."

"Wait! Did you?!" Ash awed.

"No," Lana smiled, sticking her tongue out, "I didn't, just kidding."

"Aw man…"

"Anyways, I came here real quickly to wish you two good luck on the race. I know you both will do great!"

Ash and Misty smiled at that. "Thanks. You're support means a lot on this," Misty said.

"Not that I have any doubts you two will do good," Lana said. "I'll be cheering for you, you hear?"

The two couldn't help but feel a burning confidence racing through them as they got positioned on their racer. Misty wanted to squat down a bit so she could keep the racer from tilting, but Ash was more confident and stood upright, both their legs poised to show how ready they were.

Ash smiled a bit as he slowly snaked his free left arm around Misty and then gently held her by her left hip. Misty looked up and smiled.

"What?" she asked simply. "Couldn't keep your hands to yourself, handsome?"

"It is a _couple's_ race after all, Mist," Ash replied. "Aren't we supposed to act all lovey-dovey 'n' things?" Misty just lightly blushed and giggled as she scooted a teensy bit more towards Ash.

"Fair enough, Ash, fair enough."

Soon the starting shot was fired, and with youthful vigor Buizel and Corsola quickly sped off alongside the other Pokémon. "Woohoo!" Ash cried out as the race got underway.

 **O** o **O** o **O**

It was an intense race – they were behind the leading team. Buizel and Corsola were pacing themselves for the last sprint. The leading team's Clawitzer and Marshtomp pairing were still going full sprint. Buizel and Corsola cruised carefully nearby. The last turn around before the final turn came up.

"Right," said Misty, she knew the area well since she had won her first ever water race here, whereas Ash didn't even complete the race thanks to a Latias. "Let's do this…"

Corsola, despite having not been there since the race and the famous incident, was still familiar with the waters as she had learnt five years ago when her trainer was nearly thirteen.

"Corsola!"

"Buizel!"

"KICK IT INTO HIGH GEAR!" both Ash and Misty cried out.

"BUOY!"

"CORSOLA!" With an incredible gush of water on Buizel's part, and a slight lagging by Corsola, the two shot off towards the finish line, passing a surprised Clawitzer and Marshtomp. The two other Pokémon tried keeping up, but the wash from Buizel's tail hindered their attempt to overtake them on the bend.

"And we have a winner!" the announcer cried as the team crossed the finish line. "It's the couple team of Ash and Misty! Congratulations!"

"We did it!" the cheered. Misty happily jumped into the water to hug Corsola again, accidently dragging in Ash with her, only unlike Misty, he went under and breathed in the water!

"Gah!" Ash spluttered as he choked the water out of his lungs once he surfaced. He smiled as he caught Buizel's eyes, the water weasel had his usual relaxed but confident look on his face. "Buizel, thanks. You were awesome as ever."

"Buoy, buoy," his Pokémon replied.

Misty was happily bouncing Corsola cheerily up and out of the water. She then noticed Buizel all by himself, and whilst aware of her boyfriend's Pokémon's mannerisms, she couldn't help herself as she let go of Corsola and treaded over to Buizel.

"Buizel! Thank you so much!" she cried out, giving an Ursaring hug to the Pokémon.

"Buoy! Buoy!" Buizel yelped.

"Misty!" Ash cried out. Misty then let go of his Pokémon and smiled bashfully.

"Sorry about that, Buizel." She then treaded towards Ash before wrapping her arms around Ash's neck. Ash's hands then gently held her by her waist as they floated.

"Awesome racing back there, huh?" she began.

"Yeah, it was wasn't it?"

"All the more fun having won it with you."

"Yeah…" Ash then smirked, before gently leaning down to kiss Misty, essentially in front of whole crowd, who quietly 'awed' at the two lovebirds making out in the water.

"Well, isn't this just sweet folks?" the announcer said.

"ASH! MISTY! CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING!" A quiet yet still loud cry called out suddenly. It caused Ash and Misty both to become aware of the spectacle they were causing so they broke apart, blushing.

"You two look so cute!" Lana continued cheerily, Popplio happily barking beside her.

Ash chuckled, amused. "Thanks for the congratulations, Lana!" He then turned to face Misty again, took her hand and led her to the small ladder and helped her out of the water.

"I love you," he said.

"Idiot, you know I love you too," Misty said back.

"Yeah I know… It's just… This time it feels special to say it."

"Does it now…?"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Misty. Love you."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ash. I love you too, more than even I can understand sometimes." And with a small chuckle, they went back to kissing once more.


End file.
